|
Batoche | Gulf
of Georgia Cannery |
Signal Hill |
Craigellachie | Fur
Trade Lachine |
National
Battlefields Park | Vimy
Ridge | Dieppe John Cabot first
entered the narrow entrance into the harbour on St
John's day in 1497 and named the location St Johns,
after the saint. In 1528 an English merchant named Bute
arrived in the harbour to establish a settlement.
Jacques Cartier, the famous French
explorer visited this safe, natural harbour many times
during his explorations of America and in 1583, Sir
Humphrey Gilbert landed on the shore in the harbour and
claimed the island for England.
Signal Hill is located atop the high
cliff on one side of the narrow entrance to the harbour
at St Johns Newfoundland. It was originally know as the
lookout because of its commanding view of the Atlantic
in most directions. Signal Hill received it's name from
the Lt. Colonel William Amherst, in 1762 at the end of
the Seven Years War. On September 15, the British fought
the French on the slopes of Signal Hill and forces them
off the location and into Fort William where they
surrendered 3 days later. Amherst renamed it because of
it's use for ships coming in and out of the St
Johns harbour with the use of a flag systems.
In the 1700's the
expansion of Signal Hill into a citadel took place and
in the 1800;s the expansion of the facilities occurred
as they added a barracks to the layout. In 1897 the
Cabot Tower was started which marked the 400th
anniversary of the visit of John Cabot and the 60th
anniversary of Queen Victoria's reign.
The other notable occurrence at Signal
Hill was on December 12, 1901 when the scientist and
inventor Guglielmo Marconi made contact with
another wireless station in Cornwall England which was
the first successful transatlantic wireless transmission
which change the world as they then knew it.
During the Second World War, along with
Cape Spear, artillery emplacements were established by
the U.S. at Signal Hill in order to deter and destroy
Nazi U-boats from getting too close the shore and allied
vessels. There is a museum and heritage centre on site
which offers an excellent introduction to Signal Hill
and it's facilities.
|
